Many items, products and articles of apparel made of cloth, leather and other natural and artificial fabrics and materials and combinations of such materials possess a characteristic shape and form that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. During the manufacturing or fabrication of such items, products or articles of apparel, special processes, operations, components, fixtures and procedures are incorporated and used to create, preserve and maintain this characteristic shape. One such example is the inclusion or use of stiffening structures or compounds such as adding a stiffened backing material to a component or article for the purpose of stiffening a panel or section that is subject to folding, creasing or crushing pressures. Another example is the common practice of adding stiffness to a fabric by starching it. Other processes, operations, components, fixtures and procedures are included in the manufacturing or fabricating process to not only define and establish the form and shape of these items when they are sold, but to protect and maintain that shape as long as possible afterward.
From the effort and cost associated with implementing these shape supporting and form maintaining measures, it may be inferred that producing a product with an aesthetically pleasing appearance is a primary goal of the manufacturing or fabrication process. It may also be inferred that another primary goal of the manufacturing or fabrication process is to ensure that the item will retain its characteristic and aesthetically pleasing shape and form while subject to the rigors of use, transportation and storage.
The inclusion and incorporation of the processes, operations, components, fixtures and procedures to establish and preserve the shape and form of articles and items of apparel are indicative of the desire of the user to not only purchase attractive and well-formed items, but to maintain them in that same pleasing form thereafter. In view of this desire by the purchaser or user to obtain a well-formed and shaped item and to keep that item in the same pristine condition as when purchased, it can be concluded that a large portion of the value of the item resides in its shape and appearance. The cost of the special processes, components, fixtures and procedures used in the manufacture of the articles, products and items of apparel is justified by the additional value imparted to the end product. That value can be diminished or lost when the appearance of the product is damaged or changed through even careful use, transport or storage of the articles, products and items of apparel.
An example of such an item, product or article of apparel is the baseball cap. The term “baseball cap”, or even just the word “cap”, is intended in this application intended to also include sports and similar caps. These caps include a wide variety of different shapes and configurations and are manufactured from an equally wide variety of fabrics and materials. Such caps may include a visor or bill, or be visorless. They may be essentially hemispherical in shape, or non-hemispherical. Many more options and variations are available, including but not limited to, colors, materials, size, incorporation of decorative insignia or devices, etc.
The prototype for what can be considered the standard variety of baseball or sports cap in use today is the “Brooklyn” or “5950” baseball cap. This model traces its origin to the 19th century when it was introduced as an alternative to the berets, derby caps and the like worn by various baseball teams and players. From this introduction, the baseball cap, and again this includes sports caps and other styles of visored or visorless, brimmed or brimless, hemispherical shaped or non-hemispherical shaped caps, has developed and evolved from a non-essential baseball uniform option into the ubiquitous and utilitarian fashion accessory it is today. It can be said with some truth that the baseball, or sports, cap has essentially supplanted most, if not all, other styles and varieties of men's hats for daily wear.
In one of its common implementations, a baseball cap includes two main sections, the crown and the visor. The crown of a baseball or sports cap may have a hemispherical shape that may or may not be elongated to better fit the head of the user. Many variations of this basic form, such as caps with cylindrically shaped crowns, exist. A visor is often attached to the front of the cap at the base or brim of the crown to shield the wearer's eyes from the sun.
When a quality cap is purchased, it normally possesses a shape and form that exemplifies the aesthetically pleasing characteristics desired by the purchaser. The cap may be purchased for wearing, to be placed in a cap collection or even to be included as a component in an artistic display of sports equipment and/or memorabilia. Regardless of the intended use of the cap, the purchaser would like to maintain the cap in the same pristine condition as when it was purchased.
Maintaining the desired shape and form of a cap after purchase can be very difficult because of the demands placed on the cap when it is worn, transported or stored. Even determining how to store a cap in such a way as to preserve its form and shape can be a problem. Simple expedients for cap storage such as hanging it from a coat hook or placing it on a hat or coat rack can eventually cause the crown of the cap to stretch and deform with time. Merely storing the cap on a shelf or on some other flat surface may cause the crown to sag and lose its shape.
Wearing a cap may cause the crown to become deformed or to lose its shape. Transporting the cap in a piece of luggage, a gym bag, or another container may cause the crown to become crushed, wrinkled or deformed, marring the cap's appearance. These issues clearly indicate the need for a device whose functions go beyond preserving the shape of a cap's crown. A device is needed that can help to preserve the characteristic shape and form of the crown cap's crown when it is not being worn while at the same time facilitating the restoration of the shape of the cap's crown after the cap has been crushed or deformed.
Baseball caps become dirty and soiled through use, transport or storage and may need to be washed or laundered from time to time. Also, a cap may become wet during use. If a laundered or wet cap is not dried properly, the crown can become deformed and lose its shape. There exists a need for a device to be employed to form and shape the cap's crown during the drying process. This problem is separate from the problem of maintaining the shape of the visor of a cap, if one is present.
Some inventions have been proposed that have attempted to address the various aspects of the shape maintaining or shape enforcement problem faced by the hat owner. Schoonover (U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,531) describes a case or holder for a cap that attempts to maintain the shape or form of the hat while it is being transported. This solution is not optimal because it requires the user to fold the crown of the cap in order to use the device.
Weltge (U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,134) describes a method of using a device made of a resilient, compressible material to retain the shape of a baseball, sports or similar cap. The method and device do not require the user to fold the crown of the cap. However, the method patented and the device disclosed in the patent do not incorporate methods, procedures, structures or devices that address the problem caused by the exertion of excessive force by the device against the inner surface of the crown of the cap during the insertion process. This force can make the device difficult to insert and can distort or damage the shape of the cap. Additionally, the apparatus mentioned in Weltge is shown incorporating a plurality of ventilating holes extending through the material of the disclosed device. When the disclosed device is in use, the holes are pressed against the inner surface of the crown of the cap and may wrinkle or deform the cap. The use of these holes to compress the material of the device during its insertion into a cap is of questionable value. The compressive force exerted upon the holes by the user's fingers during insertion is directed toward the center of the device. Any force acting to compress the top surface of the device is communicated from this central area by pulling and stretching the device's material. This pulling and stretching of the material may cause the shape of the device to be permanently deformed and may even result in the central material tearing free from the rest of the device. In addition. Weltge's device contains no aspects or features that reduce the pressure the device exerts on the brim of the cap without distorting the essentially circular or oval shape of the brim, both while it is being inserted into a cap and while it is in place in the cap. This pressure can deform the brim of the cap, or it may distort or damage the cap size adjustment feature often incorporated into the brim of a cap.
Richilin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,992) describes a wig stand with ventilation channels. These channels begin at the base of the device, extend upwards along the device's sides and join with other channels on the top surface. The channels provide air circulation paths along the inside surface of a wig placed on the device for air that traverse the inner surface of a wig placed on the device. In order to provide entry and exit portals for the circulating air, the channels must begin and end at the base of the device. One reason such a wig stand would not be suitable for use with a sports cap is that the channels, due to their round shape and their positioning on the surface of the device, would not allow the device as a whole to properly flex during the insertion process, easing the insertion of the device into a cap. Another reason is that the channels, by their need to originate and terminate at the base of the device, would create irregularities in the surfaces of the device that contact the inside surface of the cap. This probably would create wrinkles and creases in a cap placed upon it. This possibility of causing creases and wrinkles is especially troublesome for the front area of the sports cap, where a logo or design is usually displayed. Richilin's design shows channels traversing this critical logo area.
Minton (U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,189) discloses a device similar to that shown in Weltge. Both patents require the use of a compressible material to allow insertion of the device into a cap by squeezing it to compress its size, inserting it and then releasing it to allow it to regain its former shape. There are two problems with this approach. One of the problems is that compressing the device for insertion requires significant effort and could prove difficult to properly accomplish. A second problem is that the pressure exerted against the inside surface of the crown of the cap during the insertion process may be excessive, causing fatigue and perhaps damage to the hat. Also, the feature of the device disclosed in Minton that requires the material of the device to extend below the brim of the cap when it is in place, making it visible when inserted, could preclude its use when the hat is to be displayed for viewing with the device in place. The device disclosed also does not contain aspects or features to prevent or reduce pressure on the brim of the cap or any adjustment mechanism incorporated in the brim.
The hat shaping arrangement described in Jones (U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,973) discloses an inflatable bladder that is placed inside the crown of the cap and then inflated to shape or form a cap. This patent additionally discloses a pump used to inflate the arrangement and valving used both to contain the air held within and to control the release from the bladder as needed.
Hooser (U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,247) and Myers (U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,954) disclose inventions that are cut from a flat sheet of material and then bent into a circular form and fitted into the crown of the cap. The construction and use of the disclosed inventions indicates that the devices themselves could be crushed during the storage and transport of a cap. The inventions also require considerable configuration or setup before they can be fitted into cap and may not be suitable for frequent use.
Other devices, apparatus and arrangements such as the device described in Rigler (U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,879) address the problem of protecting the shape of the cap's visor. This visor is normally attached to the brim of the cap. Devices, apparatus or methods that protect the visor do not necessarily include aspects or features that protect the shape and form of the hat crown. Other devices that do protect the crown of the cap may not necessarily allow the cap to be displayed while the device is in place.
Using a simple convex, spherically or hemispherically shaped device could provide a solution that could protect and maintain the shape and form of a cap's crown. However, such a simple shape could prove difficult to insert into the cap's crown. If a hollow spherical or hemispherical device is substituted for a solid device, this does not markedly improve the ease of insertion of the device into the crown of the cap. The difficulty in insertion is due to the fixed size of the device and the difficulty in modifying the shape of the device so that it can be inserted into the cap. If such a device is forced into a cap, the act of insertion itself could crease, wrinkle or possibly damage the cap. Also, such a device may not include any aspects or features to allow it to conform to the shape of the inner surface of the crown of the cap while in place.
Another problem of using a hemispherically shaped device is that pressure is exerted over the entire inner surface of the cap, including the brim lining the bottom of the cap. Many caps include a device in the brim to allow adjusting the size of the cap to the wearer's head. Using a device that applies force to the brim may damage or cause premature failure of the cap due to failure of this adjustment device.